Effect of intravitreal bevacizumab (Avastin(®)) therapy in malignant hypertensive retinopathy: a report of two cases

Abstract

PURPOSE: Malignant hypertensive retinopathy is a rare, but serious, complication of uncontrolled systemic hypertension for which no treatment has been established yet. We report 2 patients with malignant hypertensive retinopathy who recovered promptly following intravitreal bevacizumab injection.

METHODS: Intravitreal bevacizumab (1.25 mg/0.05 mL) was injected in 4 eyes of 2 patients having malignant hypertensive retinopathy with optic disc edema, macular edema, and retinal exudates. A complete ophthalmic examination, including the best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), central macular thickness (CMT) on optical coherence tomography (OCT), and fluorescein angiography (FAG), was performed before and after the treatments.

RESULTS: Two eyes in 1 patient received two intravitreal injections of bevacizumab, whereas 2 eyes in the other patient received a single treatment. All 4 eyes had improvement of macular edema on OCT at 1 month and decreased fluorescein leakage on FAG 3 months after the treatment, which led to improvements in the BCVA in 3 eyes. In 1 eye with foveal atrophy, no change in the BCVA occurred despite the improved macular edema on OCT.

CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that intravitreal bevacizumab injections might be a useful adjunctive treatment of malignant hypertensive retinopathy in some selected cases. However, further studies are mandatory to determine the safety and the efficacy of such injections in this disease.